is mile training the way go

Monday's workout is all mile race pace, Friday's workout is 800m and 400m race pace. The rest is just running for 30:00 at whatever feels EASY but not forcing it to run slow either. The feel of it should be normal when in theory the pace itself is actually considered slow...because well...the body is weaker from the tremendous amount of stress placed on it a few days ago.Purpose of the workouts & why I didn't choose other intervals

First off, let's start with the basics. Mile race pace represents speed endurance or running strength in general. Mile race pace dictates what one can at least run in the 2 mile, the 5K, the 10K, and so on. Although the distances above the mile are not at their fastest or "maxed out," maxing them out is only the icing on the cake. What I mean by this is that after a runner develops his speed roots (represented by mile performance), the runner also dramatically improves in the longer distances all the way up to the marathon but not all the way. For example, a runner trains himself for the mile and goes from a 5:00 to a 4:20 mile. This allows him to at least run the 5K in about 15:40, but not 15:01 as any running calculator predicts (which is true). So in order to shave off those 39 seconds for a 15:01 5K, the runner must ditch the mile training and run at 5K pace through LT intervals, etc. so that the runner's 5K time matches his overall running strength represented numerically as a 4:20 mile.

Now as for the workouts, the first workout is solely mile race pace which dictates my mile time potential close to 100% (give or take a second or two). This workout improves basic speed endurance and makes current mile pace feel easier. However, prolonged exposure to only this type of training will barely help because in order to truly get faster in the workout itself, I must run at a faster pace than that of mile race pace. This workout just helps with rehearsing current performance and improving basic speed endurance all the way.

The last workout which is on Friday, is the faster version of mile race pace which is done at 800m race pace or 7-8 seconds faster per 400m. The primary goal here is to just expose the legs to an even faster rate of speed as opposed to directly impacting speed endurance through short recoveries like I utilize in the 10x400m workout. And for the final touch, the last part of the workout consists of 4x200m at 400m race pace with 3:00 recoveries. The goal of this is to just improve my pure speed so that I'll be ready when I get really close to that elusive 4:00 mile which requires a basic 400m race pace of sub 50 seconds. Overall, this workout is what helps me progress in the 10x400m workout and ultimately in the mile. When I get my mile time to a certain point, then I can leave the mile training alone for a while and go up to the longer distances and do some workouts at their according paces. For example, (6x1000m @ 5K pace to get better in the 5K).

You may all wonder why I don't run any real mileage and build up an aerobic base. The truth is that more mileage only builds up the slowest version of aerobic endurance and that's just being able to run farther such as running up to 20 miles in one run considered as a "long" run. The mile is 77% aerobic meaning that 400s that are done AT mile pace are in fact aerobic and not even close to anaerobic like most people would agree on. The logic behind all of it is: Run at the pace of the distance you want to get better in to get better and combine it with an even faster pace so that the pace of the longer distance becomes easier and improves due to more speed.

The old fashioned build-a-base or wrong concept of running long and easy to build up aerobic endurance only applies to runners with a low amount of running strength or a slow mile time. While mile time can improve to just a sub 5:00 mile through high mileage and a lot of easy running, don't expect for mile time to improve to a sub four or even a 4:50 because going from a 5:00 mile to a 4:00 mile is where the true and right type of training takes place. Yeah, elite runners do tend to run at a high mileage at mostly an easy pace but people fail to understand that it's not actually the mileage that lets elite runners run so fast, but the fact that they have their speed roots (speed endurance and pure speed) developed close to the human limit which in turn allows them to run world class 5Ks, 10Ks (even if they are just 1500m runners) and run most of that "easy" mileage at paces of sub 6:00. For 6:00 pace to feel that easy, the runner must have very high speed and running strength which is why all runners that can run at an easy pace of 6:00 are able to run the mile under 4:00 or almost. It all works from the bottom up, not from the top down. That's why there are many young runners that fall into the trap of more mileage = more aerobic endurance which = faster mile time and yet with all of that mileage, they never manage to come close to that elusive mile time they're chasing after (unless of course track saves them because of the speed work and fastest version of aerobic running).

So if that elite runner runs 80 miles per week and the other runner who isn't elite tries to run 80 miles per week as well, the results lead the other runner to believe that the elite runner is just talented. No one is born with awesome endurance or awesome speed or what people now think instead (awesome responsiveness to training). It just so happens that very few start out with a 4:30 mile and not a 6:00 mile because they've been exposed to that whole speed and running strength development thing whether they themselves chose to run much faster in soccer or not. And of course...VO2max is something that is thought wrongly about because it is something that is derived and not direct from something such as speed endurance. When the 4:00 mile was first broken, VO2max wasn't even discovered and the major breakthrough at the time was the introduction of fast running consisting of speed work and the fastest aerobic pace possible: mile race pace. Many of the runners back then were running 400s at mile race pace and even faster because it was something new back then. While they still exposed themselves to LT pace, it was not LT pace that contributed to most of the improvement. (hopefully got there in the end like my running)."

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